1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to telephony and, more particularly, to methods and systems for permitting a customer to access historical information concerning their use of plain, old telephone service, wireless service, and other telecommunications services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many telephone customers utilize monthly package service or measured-use service. Monthly package service is particularly used by wireless telephone customers. Monthly package service charges the customer a monthly fee for limited wireless use. A wireless customer, for example, may pay $29.99 for 150 minutes of monthly wireless use. Measured-use service provides a plain, old telephone service customer with a standard number of telephone calls per month. A measured-use customer usually pays a small monthly fee ($8.95) for thirty (30) telephone calls per month. The monthly package service is very popular with wireless telephone customers, and the measured-use service appeals to customers on fixed-incomes or to customers requiring infrequent telephone use.
Customers, however, often complain about their monthly package service and/or their measured-use service. Although each service limits the customer's telephone use, customers often have no knowledge of their monthly usage. Most customers, in fact, don't know they exceeded their permitted use until a billing statement arrives. By then, of course, the customer has already entered a new billing cycle. Customers have no way of learning their current use and, thus, no opportunity to curtail their use to avoid excessive charges.
Customers also complain about unknown telephone numbers dialed from their phone. A customer's monthly billing statement only provides a long list of called telephone numbers. If a customer spots an unknown telephone number, the customer has no convenient method of learning the identity of the unknown telephone number. Customers, therefore, often call their service provider and ask a customer representative for listing information. These calls prevent the limited number of customer service representatives from taking more important service-related calls.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for customers to quickly and easily learn their monthly use of telephone/wireless service, a need for a convenient and simple method of helping customers avoid excessive use charges, a need for reducing the number of non-value added calls to customer service representatives, a need for a customer-initiated usage management service, and a need for a customer usage pattern service that is inexpensive to operate and to maintain.